The present invention relates to generators and, more particularly, to a blocking restraint for rotor field windings in an enclosure for a generator rotor.
In a conventional generator having a rotor and a stator, the rotor is provided with field windings that excite the generator while receiving a current from an exciting current source. The stator is provided with armature windings from which electrical power is output. Typical rotor construction requires that a field winding be assembled bar by bar, into radial slots milled into a rotor forging. Containment of the rotor field windings is typically achieved using rotor wedges, rotor teeth and retaining rings.
It would be desirable to replace the bar by bar assembly with a solid rotor having parallel slots milled into a rotor forging. With this structure, the containment components could be replaced with a simplified enclosure. Filament wound enclosure rings are more elastic and allow greater freedom of motion to the winding. In this context, however, it is beneficial to control winding position, to prevent load dissymmetries against the winding enclosure, and to provide sufficient preload to obtain predictable behavior in all expected modes of operation.